Icehouse

With a name like Icehouse, you know they’re already halfway there. It means they’ve got it together in terms of Minnesota-niceness, in terms of aw-shucksness. But they shouldn’t say that, because they cannot hide their fabulosity. Something altogether different: a live music venue on Nicollet Avenue, for starters, cabaret-style, for seconds. But, then! Serious chefdom in the form of one Matt Bickford, La Belle Vie alum, now presenting you with gourmet burgers, hand-cut fries, and smoked-corn-encrusted oysters. A classic craft-cocktail program and an incredible whiskey library. And if you’re a lightweight, or an indecisive sort, there are $5 “sipping shots,” which allow you to try, say, three separate rye-, rum- or tequila-based cocktails, without breaking the bank or being 86’d for public nudity. Mecca Bos